This started as an all-AMD build with Radeon RX 5700XT chosen as GPU and the
infamous ASRock AQUA
limited edition premium motherboard and then very quickly turned into a true
nightmare.

I wanted to get rid of the proprietary NVIDIA drivers on Linux and finally have
the ability to give
Wayland a try
but I was having so many issues that it just didn't work out. I'll most likely
write a blog article about this, so long story short I had to switch the board
three times and the GPU twice to end up with a working setup. And yes, I'm back
on NVIDIA. So sad...

As of writing this not all issues have been resolved: the system still requires
two power-ons to POST with video output but apart from that it is very stable
and expectedly beefy in terms of performance.

Thor III (2015-2019)

CPU

Intel Core i7-5820K (overclocked @ 4.5 GHz)

Board

ASUS X99-E WS

RAM

16 GB DDR4 Corsair Dominator Platinum

GPU

EVGA GeForce GTX 980 ACX 2.0

Case

Phanteks Enthoo Luxe

Cooling

CPU: Corsair H110i GTX AIO-Watercooler

For this machine, I took the money I usually spent for water cooling components
and put it into hardware. The result was a truely exquisite choice of premium
components - at the cost of having a minimum of additional noise.

Regarding visual appearance, it surely can't compete with a water-cooled build,
but who knows - maybe this lack will be fixed some cold winter...

Concerning overclocking, this machine is fantastic: the i7-5820K went from
stock 3.3 GHz to 4.4 GHz just by setting a higher multiplier and raising Vcore
to 1.950 V. I think there is still some headroom left, but I prefer a stable
system to a whacky overclocking record.

The ultimate answer to the question of water cooling cases: Little Devil
PC-V8. A whole new dimension of space for building watercooled rigs,
possibilities are endless here.

Given this uncompromising case I chose to be alike when designing the water
cooling: three quad-rads, 15 fans controlled by an quaero 5 and three
PowerAdjust II.

Sometimes I really miss this build...

The drawbacks of that really extreme case were the lack of some little details
like dust filters, the fact that you have to unscrew 11(!) screws to remove one
side door, and the weight: with all that rads and stuff one simply did not want
to move that thing anywhere.

Thor I-b (2012)

CPU

Intel Core i5-2500K

Board

ASUS P8P67-EVO

RAM

8 GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance

GPU

EVGA GTX 580 FTW Hydro Copper 2

Case

CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000

A reincarnation of Thor I with new components and some modifications to the
case, e.g. more vent holes drilled into the top and an even bigger radiator
(45mm thick Phobya triple). As hardware was getting more energy-efficient and
cooler that time, the temperature problems were almost gone.

Sadly that build died one day when I tried to include the motherboard in the
water-cooling loop. Turned out I had picked components for the wrong revision of
the board, and did not mount a block on the EPU.

Thor I-a (2009-2011)

CPU

Intel Core i7-920

Board

ASUS Rampage II Extreme

RAM

6 GB DDR3 OCZ Gold

GPU

Zotac GeForce GTX 280

Case

CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000

My first water-cooled build after a long period of air cooling. First attempts
with a 220 dual rad did not take the 130 W TDP of a hot i7-920 and 236 W MGCP of
the GTX 280. Even with a 360 triple-rad the system still had some temperature
problems. Looking back from now I can say that the case just did not fit the
needs for air flow.